NHL 17 News Post

NHL 17 Player Ratings - Top 10 Defensemen

07:31 PM - August 19, 2016 by Steve_OS

EA Sports has revealed the top 10 defensemen in NHL 17. More detailed ratings can be seen in the official blog.

Check them out and post your thoughts!

Drew Doughty – Overall 94
Shea Weber – Overall 94
Duncan Keith – Overall 93
Ryan Suter – Overall 93
Erik Karlsson – Overall 92
Brent Burns – Overall 92
Victor Hedman – Overall 92
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Overall 91
P.K. Subban – Overall 91
Dustin Byfuglien – Overall 91

Previously revealed player ratings:

NHL 17 Player Ratings - Top 10 Goalies

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# 1 giantsharks @ 08/20/16 12:40 AM

Im ok with these ratings but Shea Weber doesnt belong in the top 10, let alone tied with Doughty for top rated.......i hate myself for saying that being as i despise everyone on the Kings. Maybe Weber of a few years ago but he really seemed to see a decline in skills the last couple years

# 2 Moose24x @ 08/20/16 01:14 AM

Weber isn't a 94, Byfuglien isn't a 91 and Burns and Subban should swap.

# 3 Al_Tito13 @ 08/20/16 01:29 AM

I don't think Weber deserves to be a 94, but he definitely deserves to be in the top 10 defensemen. He is not as mobile as others, but he is pretty reliable defensively, plays a simple game and he brings the physical aspect in front of the net and in the corners, something that the advanced stats seem to forget. He also has a good first pass and he scored 20 goals last year. He definitely has one of the best slapshots in the league. Maybe a 92 would be more on the target for him.

On the other hand, I love Subban and I will always do. He is really good, strong physically for his size, a good passer and a great skater. However, sometimes he is more spectacular than effective. For fans on other teams or casual Habs fans, he always stand out and look great, but it may also be another story for his teammates or his coaches. Having good puck possession is great, but what you do with the puck is even more important, especially in key moments. It happens to all of them, but when turnovers cost goals or even games too often, it may be really costly. I think that right now his 91 is probably right on the target for him.

# 4 oosterbe @ 08/20/16 05:56 AM

I personally like to have rosters which make more sense than the logic "Crosby's skating needs to be 91 instead of 93." It just doesn't make any sense, because there is no difference at all. What I suggest is to make only 5 different skill levels on each skill. Those levels needs to big enough so one could see on his bare eyes instead of numeral differences, differences needs to be tested with special slider set which is made to match with rosters. This special slider set + used with special rosters = Balances and makes more variety to the gameplay

For example

1. Weak 36 (all players with weak ability in certain skill have this number)
2. Basic 52 (all players with basic ability in certain skill have this number)
3. Good 68 (all players with good ability in certain skill have this number)
4. Star 84 (all players with star ability in certain skill have this number)
5. Super Star.99 (all players with super star ability in certain skill have this number)

I am not saying in every skill the scale starts from 36 and ends to 99- if there is problem in some area in the gameplay which need to be balanced via roster editing, it's possible that EVERY SINGLE PLAYER have 99 in certain skill.

For example (this is not tested thing yet) if you will like to have only some players who are BIG HITTERS and most of the players just push the opponent out of the puck you could make it by maxing the hitting power and assistance sliders from the game but making the scale of hitting like this:

1. Weak 36 (all players with weak ability in certain skill have this number)
2. Basic 46 (all players with basic ability in certain skill have this number)
3. Good 56 (all players with good ability in certain skill have this number)
4. Star 66 (all players with star ability in certain skill have this number)
5. Super Star 99 (all players with super star ability in certain skill have this)

So the scale of the abilities needs to be very different in different areas instead of being always the same in every attribute. Making only five skill levels to each attribute makes it easier and faster to do and understand. So if a player is a superstar in certain skill, so he is, he is not a "93 level superstar" or "95 level superstar" anymore. He is a superstar in certain skill because he immediately bumps out of the rest when you take a control on him in the game.

it needs a lot of more work and it always includes a lot of guessing to try find out "does player X's passing ability need to be 91 because of player Y's has 92 when you just know they both have superior (superstar level) skills in certain ability. My point is, you or the game don't see / feel / care / realize the difference between 91 and 92 when you are playing the game (in fact you or the game itself don't see the difference many times when the difference in certain skill is between 80 and 90 and mostly all the difference is between 10 numbers), but when the difference is big enough (and I mean BIG) it makes sense, and it makes you play feel and think the game differently.

In fact the overalls are a little bit too big thing to many. I give you an example. Wayne Gretzky was maybe the best player of the all time. So we easily think his overall needs to be almost 99. But when we take a look at the list of the attributes you could tweak, we easily see you need to make him way too good in many areas if you like to get him almost 99 overall guy. Gretzky wasn't superior in many areas. If we like to be honest his overall couldn't be almost 99. He was not an all-around player at all. He had some certain abilities which made him a special. Passing for example. Those certain abilities or skills are much more important than overalls. But people are looking overalls too strictly. People are playing in certain roles because they have certain abilities which supports their roles. I guess we agree on that. So those certain abilities are more important than overalls. But if we emphasize certain areas like passing and puck handling by making scales like 36-46-56-76-99 the best players get the best overalls too. The system has some more advantages too - you could maybe use even higher levels on some Gameplay sliders to compensate low ratings in the certain areas making the best players shining even more when 36-rated ( I doesn't mean 36-overall but passing skill for example) players aren't too poor when you actually play the game with controller.

# 5 unisol_us @ 08/20/16 08:56 AM

No Letang LOL! Guess devs didn't watch the SCF LOL!

# 6 Money99 @ 08/20/16 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al_Tito13


	I don't think Weber deserves to be a 94, but he definitely deserves to be in the top 10 defensemen. He is not as mobile as others, but he is pretty reliable defensively, plays a simple game and he brings the physical aspect in front of the net and in the corners, something that the advanced stats seem to forget. He also has a good first pass and he scored 20 goals last year. He definitely has one of the best slapshots in the league. Maybe a 92 would be more on the target for him. On the other hand, I love Subban and I will always do. He is really good, strong physically for his size, a good passer and a great skater. However, sometimes he is more spectacular than effective. For fans on other teams or casual Habs fans, he always stand out and look great, but it may also be another story for his teammates or his coaches. Having good puck possession is great, but what you do with the puck is even more important, especially in key moments. It happens to all of them, but when turnovers cost goals or even games too often, it may be really costly. I think that right now his 91 is probably right on the target for him.

Analytics dictate that Weber is actually below average defensively.
His 5-on-5 stats show that his team possesses the puck less when he's on the ice compared to the top defensemen.

94 for him is a stretch. Realistically, he should be below 90. But IMO, very few dmen in the league should be above 90.

Quote:

Originally Posted by unisol_us


	No Letang LOL! Guess devs didn't watch the SCF LOL!

Yeah, that's entirely laughable.
Letang is a top 5 dman in the league, no question. Certainly better than Weber.
What GM/coach would take Weber over Letang? A GM that is soon to be unemployed.

# 7 Al_Tito13 @ 08/20/16 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Money99


	Analytics dictate that Weber is actually below average defensively. His 5-on-5 stats show that his team possesses the puck less when he's on the ice compared to the top defensemen.

Do you think that analytics tell all the story about a player? It helps, yes, no doubt about it, but it's only a tool, there is a lot more about a player and it's exactly what I tried to explain in my post.

That being said, I agree that Letang should definitively be in the top 10.

# 8 Money99 @ 08/20/16 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al_Tito13


	Do you think that analytics tell all the story about a player? It helps, yes, no doubt about it, but it's only a tool, there is a lot more about a player and it's exactly what I tried to explain in my post. That being said, I agree that Letang should definitively be in the top 10.

I guess we can agree to disagree.
I find that Weber is a one-dimensional dman who is average in his zone and does most of his offensive damage on the PP.
He does possess a good first pass, but he's not able to skate the puck out of trouble.
He also has to rely on whacks, punches and chops to slow anyone down.
This leads to penalties.

He's still a great dman, but I don't think he's a top 10 guy.
He's not better than anyone on that top 10 list and I'd take Letang over him as well.
Heck, he wasn't even the best dman on his team last year. Josi was.

# 9 jyoung @ 08/20/16 08:40 PM

Roman Josi has been a better overall defenseman than Shea Weber for the past two seasons.

I guess skating, passing, stick skills, and discipline aren't weighted highly enough in EA's overall ratings for defenders, because Weber is average to below average in all of those categories.

Josi's game has no real weaknesses aside from the fact that he's not a huge hitter.

Byfuglien being on that list is another example of how EA's overall rating for defenders is weighted too heavily towards hitting and shot power.

# 10 ericromain @ 08/21/16 01:33 AM

I'm confused. I thought the overall rating of a player was based on a composite of all ratings categories. Why do so many people get so worked up about the overalls. I wouldn't expect the best defenseman in the game to be a 100 in offensive related categories.

# 11 unisol_us @ 08/21/16 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericromain


	I'm confused. I thought the overall rating of a player was based on a composite of all ratings categories. Why do so many people get so worked up about the overalls. I wouldn't expect the best defenseman in the game to be a 100 in offensive related categories.

I'm more frustrated that Letang doesn't get more respect league wide. Maybe he loses respect when he is busy battling things like strokes and recovering from concussions from cheap shots, (Shane Doan) but when he is playing he is easily top 5 D man in the league. He does all of this despite being the target of every team, playing over 30 mins per playoff game, and on the PP and PK! Who scored the game winner in game 6 against the sharks?

# 12 uni91 @ 08/21/16 12:50 PM

I would have Vlasic out and Letang in. Vlasic is very good and possible one of the best defensive defenseman in the NHL but his point totals (besides last year) don't dictate a 90+ rating.....probably have him at 89.

# 13 BSDShoes @ 08/21/16 02:03 PM

Only ones I disagree with are Buffy and lack of Letang.

As with the top 10 goalies list, it's showing how inaccurate EA is about players in the NHL. I guess they just go by stats rather than actual playing skills.

# 14 giantsharks @ 08/22/16 03:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al_Tito13


	Do you think that analytics tell all the story about a player? It helps, yes, no doubt about it, but it's only a tool, there is a lot more about a player and it's exactly what I tried to explain in my post. That being said, I agree that Letang should definitively be in the top 10.

As a Sharks fan i was sad to see Weber go, he was a big reason the Sharks beat Nashville. Hopefully he plays better for Montreal

# 15 giantsharks @ 08/22/16 03:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uni91


	I would have Vlasic out and Letang in. Vlasic is very good and possible one of the best defensive defenseman in the NHL but his point totals (besides last year) don't dictate a 90+ rating.....probably have him at 89.

Agreed he doesnt get a lot of points but hes still a solid puck moving defensemen and very good in the offensive zone

# 16 Qb @ 08/22/16 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyoung


	Byfuglien being on that list is another example of how EA's overall rating for defenders is weighted too heavily towards hitting and shot power.

And how the perceived overall ability of the player tends to skew the individual skill ratings upward. That's great that they gave Weber 93 strength, 92 checking and 95 shot power. The problem is they probably gave him 85/85/85 spd/agl/acc too.

There's not enough emphasis on strengths and weaknesses in the ratings. Too often it's all-around good, average, or bad. If a guy has a bomb from the point, but can't do much else, rate him like it. If someone has slick hands, but can't (or won't) play defense, rate him like it. Big hulking power forward with iffy hands? Rate. Him. Like. It.

Maybe we'd finally see more diversity in gameplay and have to think a little when it comes to roster construction as well.

# 17 oosterbe @ 08/22/16 11:13 AM

It's ridiculous to read people's reactions to overalls. In fact there is no difference at all between 89 overall player when comparing him 93 overall guy. As I said before. My point is, you or the game don't see / feel / care / realize the difference between 91 and 92 when you are playing the game (in fact you or the game itself don't see the difference many times when the difference in certain skill is between 80 and 90 and in the big image when using EA's rosters all the difference is between 10 those numbers), but when the difference is big enough (and I mean BIG) it makes sense, and it makes you play feel and think the game differently.

I just have made some tests tweaking rosters with gameplay sliders and coming to the result, that if you like to see and feel the differences that makes sense, the difference in skating skill needs to be ca. 40 numbers (if attribute effects slider is maxed).

# 18 unisol_us @ 08/22/16 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oosterbe


	It's ridiculous to read people's reactions to overalls. In fact there is no difference at all between 89 overall player when comparing him 93 overall guy. As I said before. My point is, you or the game don't see / feel / care / realize the difference between 91 and 92 when you are playing the game

I think it is fun to advocate for your favorite players not really because of the differences in the game.

# 19 thejudicata @ 08/22/16 07:40 PM

Weber a 94? lol! Canadiens fans wish!

Byfuglien a 91? is he even going to be a top 4 Defenseman on the US World Cup team?

I'd put Pietrangelo and Josi in the top 10.

Also maybe Letang, really hard to keep him out after his playoff performance.

# 20 thejudicata @ 08/22/16 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oosterbe


	It's ridiculous to read people's reactions to overalls. In fact there is no difference at all between 89 overall player when comparing him 93 overall guy. As I said before. My point is, you or the game don't see / feel / care / realize the difference between 91 and 92 when you are playing the game (in fact you or the game itself don't see the difference many times when the difference in certain skill is between 80 and 90 and in the big image when using EA's rosters all the difference is between 10 those numbers), but when the difference is big enough (and I mean BIG) it makes sense, and it makes you play feel and think the game differently. I just have made some tests tweaking rosters with gameplay sliders and coming to the result, that if you like to see and feel the differences that makes sense, the difference in skating skill needs to be ca. 40 numbers (if attribute effects slider is maxed).

Huh? I play online so I can't tweak sliders, players ratings definitely make a difference

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